In the electronic industry, such as in the field of computers, banks of removable printed circuit boards, commonly known as daughter boards, are removably connected to associated circuitry such as other printed circuit boards, commonly known as mother boards. Such banks of removable circuit boards often require connectors arranged in closely spaced rows along with rows of terminals in the respective connectors. The terminals are interconnected between circuit traces on the daughter boards and circuit traces on the mother boards. Often, the circuit traces terminate at rows of plated-through holes in the boards, and the terminals in the connectors have rows of pins soldered to the plated-through holes. The connectors are removably mateable for easy replacement of a daughter board.
Backplane connectors of the character described above may be used in significant numbers in a single electronic device, such as a computer. Consequently, the connectors could contribute significantly to the costs of the circuitry for the device. Additionally, present day computers require the use of increasingly higher speed switching signals or higher application frequencies in the use of analog systems which generate an increasing amount of electromagnetic interference (EMI) necessitating in the introduction of coaxial type connectors to interconnect the boards while keeping EMI at a minimum. Such coaxial connectors typically take up excessive board space, have been designed of undue complexity, and involve a multiplicity of components in case of right angle connectors, some of the individual components, themselves, being expensive to fabricate. For instance, the terminals of some connectors are fabricated by expensive machining operations and an individual coaxial cavity must be associated with each discrete signal to be communicated. In addition, such connectors in certain operations must take into consideration the provision of component designs which control impedance, cross-talk between the terminals, appropriate ground referencing, and the like. All of these parameters may contribute to the complexity of backplane connectors heretofore available.
This invention is directed to such problems and to satisfying the need for a relatively low cost, easily manufactured connector of the character described above, to interconnect high speed transmission circuits in a backplane environment of an electronic apparatus.